A Ukrainian immigrant who fell in love with her UK sponsor
while staying with his family has denied being a “homewrecker” and
dismissed the claims as “b*****t.”
At the beginning of May, Sofiia Karkadym,
22, escaped Lviv and moved in with Tony Garnett, 29, his wife Lorna, and their
two children in Bradford.
Mr. Garnett, on the other hand, rapidly fell in
love with his new visitor and, after ten days, left his wife for her, moving in
with her to his parents’ house.
Mr. Garnett stated that he has fallen in love with Miss
Karkadym and wishes to spend his life with her.
And Miss Karkadym insists she is not to blame for the
breakdown of her sponsors’ relationship.
She told The Sun: “That never crossed my mind. I
liked the family. I spent a lot of time with Lorna and I tried to help her. But
she was two-faced. Her constant suspicions, the tension, it just pushed
me and Tony closer together. She created this situation by constantly
suggesting something was going on when it wasn’t. So this is her
fault.”
Yesterday, jilted mother Lorna Garnett shared her anger
after she let the Ukrainian woman into her home.
Mrs. Garnett says she was left heartbroken after her
husband decided to leave her for their guest.
Speaking to the Sun on Sunday, Mrs. Garnett said
she believes Miss Karkadym ‘set her sights on Anthony from the start, decided
she wanted him and she took him’.
She added: “She didn’t care about the devastation that was
left behind. Everything I knew has been turned on its head in the space of two
weeks.”
Mrs. Garnett told the newspaper she had reservations about
the scheme but felt it was the right thing to do after seeing the ‘terrifying’
situation in Ukraine on the news.
She said: “I decided it was the right thing to do to put a
roof over someone’s head and help them when they were in desperate need. And
this is how Sofiia has repaid me for giving her a home.”
The family had taken Miss Karkadym in in an effort to do
their bit to help Ukrainian’s fleeing the Russian invasion, with Tony
telling The Sun he ‘wanted to do the right thing’ and that she was
the first person to get in touch on a Facebook page where he offered to house a
refugee under the Government’s scheme.
Miss Karkadym, who works as an IT manager, flew into
Manchester on May 4 after waiting for weeks in Berlin for her UK visa
to be approved.
Mr. Garnett said he and his guest quickly developed a
connection, and while his six-year-old and three-year-old daughters also took a
liking to her, his partner of 10 years did not.
Mr. Garnett, who speaks Slovakian, would talk with
his future lover while she spoke Ukrainian, as the two languages are
mutually intelligible.
However, this left his wife not understanding what they
were talking about.
He said: “We were getting on brilliantly but at that time
it was no more than that — although I can see why Lorna started to feel jealous
and resentful of her. At home I realised we were finding excuses to touch and
brush against each other, it was very flirtatious but nothing more than that
happened at that stage. Although it was fairly innocent it was causing
arguments. I can understand that. When I got in at night Sofiia would be the
one who had made a meal for me to try.”
As the pair got closer and closer, his wife became ‘very
jealous’ Mr. Garnett says, and began to question why Miss Karkadym was
following him around all the time.
He said: “The atmosphere was getting really bad and Sofiia
told me she didn’t know whether she could continue to live with us under these
circumstances. Lorna was never that enthusiastic about having a refugee in our
home because it meant the girls had to move into one room.”
Things came to a head after an explosive row between the
women left Miss Karkadym in tears and saying she no longer felt like she could
no longer live in the same house.
Mr. Garnett said ‘something inside me clicked’ and he told
his wife ‘If she’s going, I’m going’.
The pair then packed their bags and moved in with his
mother and father, although they are looking at properties to move into.
After their relationship of 10 years ended in the space of
just 10 days, Tony says he feels bad and that Lorna is not to blame.
His words: “I am so sorry for what Lorna is going through,
this was not her fault and it was not about anything she did wrong. We never
set out to do this, it wasn’t planned and we didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
